Russia Reveals Identity Of CIA Moscow Chief Following US Spy Debacle

The Federal Security
Service in Russia has revealed the identity of the CIA's station
chief in Moscow in a breach of protocol.

The revelation, made by an FSB spokesman who accused the US
agency of crossing a "red line" in its attempt to recruit
turncoats among Russian spy agencies, will up the ante in the
unfolding spy scandal that emerged earlier this
week when Russia detained and expelled an alleged CIA agent
working undercover as third secretary at the US embassy in
Moscow.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor, have
taken pains to say they believe the scandal will blow over
quickly.

Publicly revealing the CIA station chief proves that some inside
the Russian government believe otherwise and is likely to prompt
an angry response from Washington.

Speaking to Russia's Interfax news agency, the FSB spokesman said
his agency had complained to the CIA station chief as far back as
October 2011 "that if they [the Americans] continue their
provocative recruitment efforts regarding employees of the
Russian secret services, the FSB will take 'mirror' actions
against CIA agents". In that statement, the spokesman included
the station chief's name.

The US embassy declined to comment. Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB
general turned Kremlin critic now living in the US, said: "This
is a deliberate attempt to make the situation worse than it is.
It's an invitation to the US to do the same and they probably
will – and no one will gain."

The US has not reacted to the expulsion of Ryan Fogle, who Russia
said was caught in a sting operation last week while allegedly
attempting to recruit an FSB agent focused on anti-terrorism
efforts in Russia's North Caucasus. Russia widely publicised the
case, parading Fogle on state-run television alongside collection
of alleged spy gear, including wigs, a map and compass, a poorly
written recruitment letter and the recording of a phone call with
his alleged target.

The FSB spokesman said the case came after several warnings to
the CIA, including the direct appeal to the station chief.

In December, Russia expelled – less publicly – another suspected
CIA agent working undercover as third secretary at the US
embassy. The FSB spokesman said the man was declared persona non
grata on 11 January and expelled four days later.

"In the case with Fogle, the CIA crossed 'the red line' and we
were forced to react, observing official procedures," the
spokesman said.

His comments were widely published in Russian media and on
state-run television, including the Kremlin's English-language
channel, Russia Today.

"Basically, the FSB got sick of American spies and
demonstratively and publicly slapped one of them," wrote the
tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Like a cockroach who thought he
was master of the crumbs in the kitchen."

Kalugin said he believed Russia designed the scandal in order to
heighten general fear about Americans inside the country, while
stepping up pressure on the US as Moscow and Washington tussle
over Syria.

"As Hillary Clinton, the former [US]
secretary of state, put it just a few months ago: we are watching
the process of re-Sovietisation of Russia," he said. "I think
this is precisely what has been happening."

Russian officials, including Putin, have accused the US of
fomenting discontent against him in Russia, as well as
orchestrating the uprisings around the Middle East.

The spy scandal unfolds as the US and Russia have sought to boost
co-operation between their respective security services over the
investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing. Yet the two
countries remain at odds over Syria.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, reiterated on Friday
that Russia was delivering its S-300 missiles to Syria, despite
US and Israeli attempts to convince Moscow to halt arms shipments
to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.